Undergraduate

Social anthropology draws on comparisons of past and present cultures to examine the principles of social life and development. The concerns of social anthropology include the full range, both historical and geographical, of human societies and cultures. Attention is paid not only to pre-industrial societies but also to the non-industrial sectors of more complex ones and to contemporary urban communities. See here for more information about social anthropology as a subject.

The undergraduate degree programme begins with a one-year integrated multi-disciplinary Part I that combines social anthropology with archaeology, biological anthropology and sociology to approach the unity and variety of humankind in different but overlapping ways. You will be introduced to the comparative study of social institutions and human cultures, and to different theoretical approaches involved in description, analysis and comparison. Social anthropology stands at the intersection between the social sciences and a broader anthropological project involving both archaeology and biology. Accordingly, first-year students have the option of taking a course in sociology or an interdisciplinary course on anthropology in this wider sense. See here for more information on Part I.

The second and third years (Part II) provide a deeper understanding of the relation between theory and the description and comparison of particular societies. The second year course comprises two papers on the foundations of social anthropology (one on kinship and economics, the other on politics and religion), one paper on theory, methods and enquiry, and a fourth paper chosen from a range of research-led options which may include gender, kinship and care; the anthropology of law, the anthropology of the city, development, science and society, colonialism, and arts and communication.

The third year course comprises two papers in advanced social anthropology, a paper about the anthropology of a regional area studied in depth, and a choice of either two further options from the list above or one option and a dissertation. Most students choose to do the dissertation, a choice that also allows them to carry out a project of field research at home or abroad.

Please note: there are no hidden compulsory costs in the content of the course. You may choose to do a dissertation in your final year instead of a written exam. Should you so choose the dissertation can be either library based, in which case there are unlikely to be any significant costs incurred, or based on fieldwork (either in the UK or elsewhere). Fieldwork could be expensive and unfortunately the Division has no funds to meet these expenses. However students are often able to obtain grants from their colleges, and there are in addition other awards for which you may be eligible.

More information can be found on the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology website.